Op-Ed: The Tortured Poets Department: too much tortured, not enough poet
Authored by UNKNOWN
Taylor Swift’s 11th album was announced at the 2024 Grammys as she accepted an award onstage. This album comes after Taylor Swift and her long-term boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, broke up after six years of dating. The two began dating after Taylor Swift was canceled online in 2016, and ended their relationship after she reclaimed her banner of being a quintessential pop star in 2022.
Their breakup has been plagued with rumors of a miscarriage, a secret wedding, and bearding (when a couple pretends to be dating to hide their sexuality). Thus, it is clear that fans are thirsty for any knowledge about what caused the end of a seemingly happy relationship.
The tracklist was announced in February, with some song titles stepping away from the catchy titles she has in her catalog. “But Daddy I Love Him” was a suspect for being a cringey song, as Taylor Swift is a thirty-four-year-old woman and not a rebellious seventeen-year-old. Further, “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)” seemed obviously to be pandering to the TikTok, Gen Z generation, with hopes that they would use it in edits and videos. Taylor Swift is a businesswoman, and it seemed she had crafted these songs to capitalize on her consumers.
There were also some song titles that suggested potential. “So Long, London” was positioned at track 5, which is notoriously the most emotional and intimate on her albums. The title was simple and alluded to her personal reminiscing. Furthermore, “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” suggested it might excel because of its simplicity. “Florida!!!,” a song with Florence & The Machine frontwoman Florence Welch, held the possibility of being great because of Welch’s artistic experimentation.
After a period of great anticipation, The Tortured Poets Department was released on April 19, 2024.
“I’ve been avoiding it at all costs,” Kaydance Rice, a Creative Writing senior confided.
The Tortured Poets Department continues the minimalistic and dreary production found on her previous album, Midnights. Within many of the songs, Swift’s voice is hidden behind synths and the repetitive beat of synth-pop.
The album also suffers from clunky lyrics that her most successful works have avoided. One of the lyrics leaked the day before the release writes, “You smokеd, then ate seven bars of chocolate / We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist / I scratch your head, you fall asleep / Like a tattooed golden retriever.” As some X (formerly Twitter) users claimed, it appeared that Swift’s new writing style was attempting to invoke casual writers like Phoebe Bridgers. However, Swift’s artistic voice is, and has always been, dependent on her sense of hope in love.
Later in the night of April 19, Swift announced the second half of the album, which she referred to as the “Anthology.” Self-proclaiming your work as an anthology indicates a level of hubris that may be seeping into her identity from her most recent years of worldwide success. The songs on this portion of the album are no better or worse than the previously released songs.
Taylor Swift’s music has always been heavily reliant on her penmanship; however, the songs on this album are so overwritten that they are sonically simple and boring. All of her commercial success may have led Swift and her team to believe that, no matter the quality of the songs, what she released would be automatically successful within her fanbase.
“I'm a Swiftie. I'll admit it,” said Soph Stentz, a junior Creative Writing major. “I went to the Eras Tour and had the best night of my life. But TTPD was just too petty. She talks about how depressed she’s been on tour, making fans feel guilty for enjoying themselves. I also don't find any scenario in which a thirty-three-year-old billionaire should bring an 8-year-old born into fame into her own personal drama with the Kardashian/West family. It's unnecessary. You’re fine, girl.”
The Tortured Poets Department has so far gotten dry reviews from critics. Some claim that Swift needs an editor, that she needs a break, and that her artistic relationship with Jack Antonoff has dried up. What is clear for Swift has been clear for other musicians; there is a point at which someone leaves their artistic peak and their time in the spotlight is over.
The question is, as we watch Swift’s next steps: is it time for her to have a great musical legacy, and will she be able to cope without the continued adoration of millions of people?